1965 – Baltimore

USA 11 – 11 GB&I

September 3-4, 1965
Baltimore Country Club, Five Farms East, Baltimore, Maryland
6,810 yards / Par 70

Captains: John Fischer (USA) and Joe Carr (GB&I)

Day 1 Foursomes
William Campbell / Downing Gray Jr lost to Michael Lunt / Gordon Cosh 1 hole
Deane Beman / Donald Allen halved with Michael Bonallack / Clive Clark
William Patton / Edgar Tutwiler beat Rodney Foster / Gordon Clark 5&4
Mark Hopkins / Davis Eichelberger lost to Peter Townsend / Ronnie Shade 2&1
USA 1 – GB&I 2

Day 1 Singles 
William Campbell beat Michael Bonallack 6&5
Deane Beman beat Rodney Foster 2 holes
Downing Gray Jr lost to Ronnie Shade 3&1
Mark Hopkins lost to Clive Clark 5&3
Wiliam Patton lost to Peter Townsend 3&2
Dale Morey lost to Sandy Saddler 2&1
Donald Allen lost to Gordon Cosh 2 holes
Edgar Updegraff lost to Michael Lunt 2&1
USA 2 – GB&I 6

Day 1: USA 3 – GB&I 8

Day 2 Foursomes
William Campbell / Downing Gray Jr beat Sandy Saddler / Rodney Foster 4&3
Deane Beman / Davis Eichelberger lost to Ronnie Shade / Peter Townsend 2&1
Edgar Tutwiler / William Patton beat Gordon Cosh / Michael Lunt 2&1
Donald Allen / Dale Morey lost to Clive Clark / Michael Bonallack 2&1
USA 2 – GB&I 2

Day 2 Singles
William Campbell beat Rodney Foster 3&2
Deane Beman beat Sandy Saddler 1 hole
Edgar Tutwiler beat Ronnie Shade 5&3
Donald Allen lost to Gordon Cosh 4&3
Downing Gray Jnr beat Peter Townsend 1 hole
Mark Hopkins halved with Clive Clark
Davis Eichelberger beat Michael Bonallack 5&3
William Patton beat Michael Lunt 4&2
USA 6 – GB&I 1

Match Result: USA 11 – GB&I 11

Series Results: USA 18 – GB&I 1 – Halved 1 (after Match 20)

The 1965 USA and GB&I Walker Cup Teams

Captains Johnny Fischer and Joe Carr share the Cup (© John Fischer Jr)

_____________________________________________

Match Notes

In 1964 Great Britain, captained by Joe Carr and represented by Michael Bonallack, Rodney Foster, Michael Lunt and Ronnie Shade, won the Eisenhower Trophy for the first time.

Carr captained GB&I in Baltimore but chose to not to select himself for any of the games.

The 1965 match was one of the best in the history of the Walker Cup. GB&I led USA 8-3 after Day 1 and then 10-5 after the Day 2 Foursomes. Unfortunately they were unable to secure the two Singles victories they needed from the remaining eight games to secure a second win. The matched was tied for the first time 11-11 but only after England’s Clive Clark had holed a 40 foot putt to halve the final game on the 18th green.

A frustration to Carr would have been that his four victorious Eisenhower Trophy players, Bonallack, Foster, Lunt and Shade, all lost their final day singles games. This was a match where untried youth prospered for the British. Clark, Cosh and Townsend lost only two of the 12 games they participated in.

Clive Clark enjoyed a superb season in 1965, winning the Lytham Trophy (tied), Brabazon Trophy (tied) as well as finishing runner up in the Amateur Championship. The only undefeated player on both sides in this year’s Walker Cup – with two wins and two halves – he would go on to become a well known BBC golf commentator and course architect, often working alongside Peter Alliss.

Nevertheless this was still deemed a good result for the tourists. Previously no British men’s amateur or professional team had come close to achieving a respectable loss let alone a draw.

It was generously agreed by the USGA that the trophy would spend one year in America before being sent over to St. Andrews in 1966 a year ahead of the next match at Royal St. George’s.

Peter Townsend would go on to become a Ryder Cup player for Great Britain, playing in both 1969 and 1971. As the 1969 match was halved at Royal Birkdale he is the only player on both sides to have played in halved Walker Cup and Ryder Cup matches. He played in every series in both matches and also enjoyed an overall winning record in both – WC Baltimore 1965 P4 W3 H0 L1 and RC Birkdale P5 W3 H0 L2.

The crowds in Baltimore were estimated by Pat Ward-Thomas, writing in The Glasgow Herald, to be in the region of 3,000 per day.

Copyright © 2015-2023, Mark Eley. All rights reserved.